Interlocking Bendable Device

ABSTRACT

A bendable device, such as a child&#39;s toy, to be generally comprised of an elongated, flexible body section, a head segment attached to an end of the body section, and a tail segment attached to the other end of the body section is disclosed. In a basic form, the device can be wrapped about an object and secured to itself to form a ring. The head segment includes an opening, preferably in the form of a mouth, and a cavity extending from the open mouth inward to the body, and the tail includes an insertable portion for being frictionally engaged and retained within the cavity. The cavity may extend through the head segment and into the body and may include a plurality of indexed chambers. The chambers allow adjustability of the ring size by providing deeper insertion of the tail into the mouth of the head. Objects may be inserted into the cavity for storage, decoration, or play.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present device relates to a bendable device that has multiple uses,including functioning as a toy, fanciful jewelry, an ID tag, or asadvertising merchandise. Particularly, the present device relates to anadaptable bendable device which can be used in many different ways for awide range of ages, from babies through toddlers as well as pre-teensthrough teenagers, and even adults.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are very few toys on the market today, if any, which have theability to be marketed for newborns as well as teenagers. For babies,desirable toys are generally safe, colorful, easy-to-grasp and oftenhave some noise-making aspect. Older children become more imaginative inplay and often look for toys and gadgets which are theme-based—e.g.,cartoons, sports, fantasy, historical. The intended use for a baby's toymust be kept simple, while older children look to be challenged duringplay. Further, babies and (to a lesser extent) toddlers (i.e., ages 1-4)are solitary in their play, as they lack the necessary communicationskills for interacting with others, so the toy must solely hold theirattention. On the other hand, social play is very strong in youngchildren (i.e., ages 5-12) and adolescents (i.e., 13-19 year-olds)predominately favor social interaction during play. Accordingly, toysfor these age groups should provide a social component. It is difficultto conceive of a toy which can provide each of the features for childrenover such a wide range of ages.

The present device is capable of providing each of these features in atoy for children of a wide range of ages. However, the present device isnot just a toy, but may also be considered for use as jewelry, anidentification device, a hair tie, a safety device, and much more. Theseand other advantage will be more readily understood after review of thefollowing detailed description and the appended drawing figures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

There is disclosed herein an improved toy device which avoids thedisadvantages of prior devices while affording additional structural andoperating advantages.

It is an aspect of the disclosed child's toy to be generally comprisedof an elongated, flexible body section, a head attached to an end of thebody section, and a tail attached to the other end of the body section.The toy can be wrapped about an object and secured to itself to form aring.

In an embodiment of the disclosed toy, the head includes an open mouthand a cavity extending from the open mouth inward to the head, and thetail includes an insertable portion for being frictionally engaged andretained within the cavity. The cavity may extend through the head andinto the body and may include a plurality of indexed chambers. Thechambers allow adjustability of the ring size by providing deeperinsertion of the tail into the mouth of the head.

In selected embodiments, it is an aspect of the disclosed toy to bemodeled after an entity selected from aliens, animals includingdomestic, farm, fantasy, prehistoric and wild, athletes, cartooncharacters, famous persons, fictional characters, infamous persons,mythological creatures, professional persons and the like.

These and other aspects of the invention may be understood more readilyfrom the following description and the appended drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For the purpose of facilitating an understanding of the subject mattersought to be protected, there are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings embodiments thereof, from an inspection of which, whenconsidered in connection with the following description, the subjectmatter sought to be protected, its construction and operation, and manyof its advantages should be readily understood and appreciated.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are perspective views of a first embodiment of thedevice of the present application illustrating the formation of a ring;

FIG. 2 is a perspective of the embodiment of FIG. 1B illustrating onepossible use for the ring configuration;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are side views of an embodiment illustrating onepossible use for an extended configuration of the present device;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present deviceshowing another possible use for the extended configuration;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present deviceshowing another possible use for the ring configuration;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present deviceshowing still another possible use of the ring configuration;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are perspective views of a shorter version of the presentdevice showing a couple possible uses;

FIG. 9 is a side view of several devices of a specific embodimentshowing serial connections as a possible use;

FIGS. 10A-10C illustrate a variety of different tail-end forms which maybe used with the present device;

FIGS. 11A-11E illustrate a variety of different chamber cross-sectionspossible for use with the present device;

FIGS. 12A-12D illustrate a variety of different retention members whichmay correspond to chamber cross-sections;

FIG. 13 is a side view illustrating an embodiment of the head segment ofthe current invention;

FIGS. 14A and 14B are side views illustrating another embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIGS. 15A-15E are various possible cross-sections for the body of thepresent invention;

FIG. 16 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIGS. 17A-17C are perspective views of still three more possibleembodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

While this invention is susceptible of embodiments in many differentforms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described indetail a preferred embodiment of the invention with the understandingthat the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification ofthe principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broadaspect of the invention to embodiments illustrated.

Referring to FIGS. 1-17, there are illustrated several embodiments of abendable device, such as child's play toy, generally designated by thenumeral 10. The device or toy 10 includes three distinct sections: afirst section or head segment 12, a body 14 and a second section or tailsegment 16. The three sections can be embodied in an almost infinitenumber of possible characters, sizes, colors, and shapes, making thedevice 10 capable of manufacture to be useful and interesting tochildren of a wide range of ages.

The first section or head segment 12 of the device 10 is preferablymolded from an elastic or flexible polymer material, such as siliconerubber, and can be modeled after any number of entities. A preferredlikeness is that of a dragon, which can itself take on many differentshapes, colors and sizes. Other possible likenesses, including theexamples shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, include animated/cartoon characters,superheroes, television characters, animals (including domestic, farm,wild, marine, mythological, prehistoric, insects, birds, etc.), aliens,soldiers (ancient, historic, current), famous persons, professionals(e.g., doctors, nurses, etc.), athletes, sports mascots, and eveninanimate objects (e.g., phones, computers, trains, cars, planes,buildings, etc.).

Regardless of the form taken by the head 12, each is provided with amouth or opening 20. The mouth 20 should be expandable to widen, asnecessary, as a result of the head 12 being molded from an elasticmaterial. Alternatively, the mouth or opening 20 may be articulated asshown in FIG. 13. The interior portion of the head 12 is hollowed todefine a cavity 22 which extends toward the body 14 of the device 10.The cavity 22 will be explained in more detail below with respect to thebody 14 and different uses of the toy 10. The head 12 may also beadorned with other peripheral devices (not shown), including reflectiveparts, bright colors, appendages, lights, LEDs, noise-makers and thelike. In some embodiments, as illustrated in FIGS. 14A and 14B, the head12 may be hinged to expose an opening 20B extending into the cavity 22of the body 14. The head segment 12 may also be removable to allowinterchangeable attachment of different head segments to change the lookof the device 10.

The second section or tail segment 16 of the device 10 is preferablycomprised of a shaft 24 ending with a hollow, bulbous member 26 havingloose material 28 inside so that it rattles when shaken. The sound ofthe rattle may be altered by changing the particle size of the loosematerial 28. Alternatively, other noise-making devices (not shown) maybe used, such as buzzers, clickers, bells, whistles and the like, aswell as visual stimulating devices, such as patterns, color wheels,lights, LEDs, reflective material and the like. For older users, digitaltime displays, GPS displays, compass, MP3 player, or other electroniccomponents may be integrated.

In some embodiments, the tail 16 or just the bulbous member 26 may beremovable to allow interchangeable attachment of different parts tochange the look and sound of the device 10. Of course, the device 10 maybe constructed with a solid tail segment 16 having no noise-makingcapability. Further, to lessen the likelihood of accidental removal ofthe tail segment 16, the tail segment is preferably secured in otherthan a friction fit manner. For example, a threaded connection, a twistlock connection, or a depressible pin release mechanism are alleffective and well-known devices to those skilled in the art.Preferably, the tail segment design is coordinated with the head segmentdesign.

The bulbous member 26 of the tail 16 should be sized to fit snugly intothe mouth 20 of the head segment 12 (or the opening 20B of FIG. 14A) toform a ring configuration of the device 10, as illustrated in FIGS.1A-1B. In some embodiments, the bulbous member 26 may be capable offurther insertion into the cavity 22 extending inward from the openingor mouth 20 as a means to adjust the size of the resulting ring, as willbe explained in further detail below.

The body 14 of the device 10 is a very important component of thepresent invention. Preferably, the body 14 is flexible like metal wire,allowing it to be formed into many different shapes and figures. Oneparticular form for the toy 10 is that it should be able to be bent intoa ring shape (see, e.g., FIGS. 2, 5-8). However, the body 14 is alsopreferably hollow, at least in part, as it defines indexed chambers 30within at least a portion of the cavity 22. The chambers 30 arepreferably formed to complement the shape of the bulbous member 26 ofthe tail 16. The chambers 30 allow finite adjustments of the device 10when it is formed into a ring. The indexed chambers 30 also provide amore secured retention of the bulbous member 26 during play. A moresimplified friction fit may be suitable, and preferred, for babies andyoung children.

Where the head segment 12 pivots to allow access to the opening 20 andcavity 22 by the tail segment, the outer surface of body 14 may includea flat section 23 upon which to rest the head segment 12, as shown inFIG. 14B. To prevent flopping of the head segment 12 in thisconfiguration, the flat section 23 may provide a securing means (notshown) to hold the head segment 12 in place.

The remainder of the cavity 22 forms a tunnel 32 for objects to passinto. An access port or slit opening 34 is formed in the wall of thebody 14 at the end of the tunnel 32. The access port 34 allows insertionor the protrusion of objects from the cavity 22. The body 14 may bemanufactured from a fabric, resilient polymers, including natural rubberand the like, or a combination of these material to provide thenecessary flexibility. The body 14 may then also include wire or similarmembers (not shown) running lengthwise to provide shape retentionability to the body 14. Alternatively, the body 14 may be comprised ofsmaller jointed sections (not shown) to allow bending action. These andother molding, construction and manufacturing methods which allow thebody 14 to be bent are certainly known to those skilled in the art andcombinations of such methods may be employed herein.

To prevent rolling, the body 14 should have a cross-section of any shapehaving at least one flat side. Certainly, the cross-section may be roundfor certain applications, but an oval or elliptical form may be mostuseful. Square or rectangular cross-sections may also providedadvantages in some applications. Examples of body cross-sections areillustrated in FIGS. 15A-15E.

The body 14 is preferably colored (including color changing material,neon colors and glow-in-the-dark) and patterned to match the theme usedfor the head segment 12 and tail segment 16 of the device 10. Texturingof the outer surface of the body 14 may be used as well. The length ofthe body 14 can be altered to the intended use of the toy 10, asexplained in more detail below. To provide adjustability of the bodylength, the body 14 may be compressible in a manner similar to abendable portion of a straw. Such a feature would still provide thedesired bend-ability of the body 14. Theme related attachments, such aslegs, arms, wings, clothing, battle accessories, professionalaccessories, beads, ribbons, bows, etc., as well as functionalattachments, such as name tags, key rings, clock faces, etc., may beadded to the body 14 of the toy, if desired. Such devices may clip tothe body 14 or insert in holes provide for such attachment.

Uses

The present device is particularly suitable for use as a child's toy.However, the potential for customization to accommodate clubs, teams,schools, associations, promotions, holidays, events, businesses,charities, and the like is practically endless. Accordingly, while theaforementioned device is primarily described in the context of a child'stoy, it is understood that all such possible uses for the three-partdevice 10 are equally covered by the accompanying claims.

In its simplest form, the device is a colorful, bendable character whichcan be used in any number of different children's games and activities.Each different character may be combined with, for example, a name,background/history, accessories, personality traits, or any otherstoryline and features that supports a desired theme. In allembodiments, the tail 16 of the toy 10 is capable of insertion into thehead 12 at the mouth 20 to form a ring. The bulbous tail member 26frictionally fits within a cavity 22 defined within the head 12 toretain the ring form. In some embodiments, the cavity 22 may becomprised of several chambers which provide indexed adjustability to thering size and retain the tail 16 more securely within the cavity 22.Pulling the tail 16 from the mouth 20 returns the toy 10 to its fulllength embodiment.

As a ring, the toy 10 may find a number of uses. For babies, forexample, the toy 10 may be secured onto a chair or other device in thebaby's view where the colorful and whimsical features provide visualstimulation. By utilizing the rattle-tail feature described above, thering may be alternatively fastened loosely onto the ankle or wrist ofthe baby to provide both visual and audible stimulation. For olderchildren, the body cavity 22 and slit opening 34 permit the insertion ofa plastic straw or eating utensil, such as a fork or spoon, into the toy10. With an end extending from each of the slit 34 and the mouth 20, achild may be encouraged to eat and drink using the toy. Similar use maybe made with pencils, pens, markers, headphone cords, drawstrings, andthe like.

For groups of children, several of the toys 10 may be linked togetherusing the tail from one toy inserted into the mouth of another, as shownin FIG. 9. By correlating the bulbous tail section 26 and chamber 30 forsimilarly themed characters—e.g., all dragon toys may have a 1.0 cm sizebulbous end, all cartoon characters a 1.5 cm size, all robot themed toysa 2.0 cm size, etc.—matching, trading, and other social activities maybe encouraged. Sharing, trading, gifting and exchanging of the toyshelps grow collections. By varying the body length of different toys,children may use the ring form as jewelry (e.g., bracelet, necklace,ring), bike or locker decorations, luggage or backpack identifiers, hairties, and a variety of other activities limited only by the child'simagination.

The matter set forth in the foregoing description and accompanyingdrawings is offered by way of illustration only and not as a limitation.While particular embodiments have been shown and described, it will beapparent to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications maybe made without departing from the broader aspects of applicants'contribution. The actual scope of the protection sought is intended tobe defined in the following claims when viewed in their properperspective based on the prior art.

1. A bendable device comprising: an elongated, flexible body section; afirst section attached to an end of the body section, the first sectionhaving an opening and a cavity extending from the opening inward to thefirst section; a second section attached to an end of the body sectionopposite the first section, the second section having an insertableportion; wherein the insertable portion of the second section is capableof insertion to the opening and retention within the cavity of the firstsection.
 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the cavity extends throughthe first section and into the body.
 3. The device of claim 2, whereinthe cavity comprises a plurality of indexed chambers.
 4. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the first section is modeled after an entity selectedfrom a group consisting of aliens, animals including domestic, farm,fantasy, prehistoric and wild animals, athletes, buildings, cartooncharacters, famous persons, fictional characters, inanimate objects,infamous persons, mythological creatures, professional persons, vehiclesand the like.
 5. The device of claim 3, wherein the insertable portionof the second section has a shape and each of the plurality of indexedchambers have a shape, and the shape of the insertable portioncorresponds to the shape of the plurality of indexed chambers.
 6. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the elongated body section is hollow.
 7. Thedevice of claim 6, wherein the elongated body section includes a slitproviding passage from an interior of the body section to the exteriorof the body section.
 8. The device of claim 3, wherein the shape of theinsertable portion is substantially spherical.
 9. The device of claim 1,wherein the insertable portion includes a hollow section.
 10. The deviceof claim 9, wherein the hollow section includes loose material formaking a noise when shaken.
 11. The device of claim 1, wherein theinsertable portion includes a noise-maker.
 12. The device of claim 1,wherein the elongated body section is bendable.
 13. The device of claim1, wherein the first section and the second section are detachable fromthe body to allow interchanging parts.
 14. A bendable device comprising:an elongated, flexible body segment having opposing ends; a tail segmentattached to the body segment at an end, wherein the tail segmentcomprises an insertable member; and a head segment attached to the bodyat an end opposite the tail segment, wherein the head segment comprisesan opening to a cavity defined within one of either the head segment orthe body segment, wherein the insertable member is capable of removableengagement with the cavity to form a ring.
 15. The device of claim 14,wherein the insertable member is bulbous.
 16. The device of claim 14,wherein the cavity extends throughout the body segment creating asubstantially hollow interior.
 17. The device of claim 16, furthercomprising an access port in the body segment.
 18. The device of claim17, wherein the access port comprises a concealed slit in the bodysegment providing a passage from the substantially hollow interior to anexterior.
 19. The device of claim 15, wherein the insertable membercomprises a substantially hollow interior.
 20. The device of claim 19,where the substantially hollow interior of the insertable memberencloses loose material which rattles upon shaking.